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A CALIFORNIA IDYL 



A CALIFORNIA IDYL 



BY 



ERNEST MCGAFFEY 



53 




PUBLISHED BY 

THE CHANNING AUXILIARY 

GEARY AND FRANKLIN STREETS 
SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 






48185 



USED BY PERMISSION OF 
DODD. MEAD £ CO. • « 



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COPYRIGHT 1899 
THE CHANNING AUXIUARY 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

DRAWN BY 

W. H. BULL 

PAGE 

I. California • " 

n. Lichen on Live Oak ^* 

IIL "A road-fanner dodged in the chaparral" J2 

IV. California Lilac ^3 

V, '*A black wasp droned by his sun-baked cell** 14 

VI. Mimtiltis ^5 

VII. ** While flat on a stone lay a Nile-grecn lizard " ...... 16 

Vni. Sycamore Leaf ^^ 

IX. ''And a wolf in the rift of a sycamore, sat gray as a monk 

at the mission door ** ^° 

X. Cactus Bloom *" 

XI. "A sage-hen scratched 'mong the cactus spike** 20 

Xn. "While steady as ever rose anvil-strike, came the rat-tat-tat 

of a yellow hammer ** 22 

Xm. Quail in the Brush 23 

XIV. "And a shy quail lowered his crested head- to the rock-lined 

sweep of a dry creek's bed ** 24 

XV. "While a rattlesnake by the dusty trail, lay coiled in a mat 

of mottled scale.*' white sage 26 

XVI. Wild Oats 27 

XVII. "Then the gray wolf sprang on the sage-hen there** ... 28 
XVIII. "And the lizard snapped at the wasp and caught him.** 

Wild Buckwheat ... 30 

XIX. Sycamore Foliage 32 



A CALIFORNIA IDYL 



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A road-runner dodged in 

the chaparral 
As a coin will slip from 

the hand of a wizard, 










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A black wasp droned by his 
sun-baked cell, 



13 




While flat on a stone lay a Nile- 
green lizard, 



And a wolf in the rift of a sycamore 
Sat gray as a monk at the mission door. 




A sage-hen scratched ^mong the cactus spike, 
While high in the sky was the noon sun^s 
glamour, 




While steady as ever rose anvil strike 
Came the rat-tat-tat of a yellow hammer, 



And a shy quail lowered his crested head 
To the rock-lined sweep of a dry creek^s bed. 




And out of the earth a tarantula crept 

On his hairy legs to the road's white level, 

With eyes where a demon's malice slept, 
And the general air of an unchained devil, 

While a rattlesnake by the dusty trail 

Lay coiled in a mat of mottled scale. 



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Then the gray wolf sprang 
On the sage-hen there 




And the lizard snapped at the wasp and caught him, 
While the spider fled to his sheltering lair 
As though a shadowy foeman sought him, 



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And the road-runner slipped from the wayside brake 
And struck his beak through the rattlesnake. 



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